To the CARB Board:I support the California Air Resources Board
(CARB) 2022 Climate Change Scoping Plan and offer suggestions to
strengthen the natural working lands targets to better reflect the
importance of California's coastal habitats. Nature-based solutions
that harness coastal wetlands' carbon-absorbing properties is a
crucial element to advance emission reduction goals. Specifically,
I ask CARB to:• Endorse the draft plan's recommendation to
restore at least 60,000 acres of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
to reduce emissions, restart carbon burial, and provide flood
mitigation, water quality, and biodiversity benefits to the region
and state.• Include an acreage target and related management
strategies for ALL of the state's coastal wetlands, including San
Francisco Bay, Eel River Estuary, and Humboldt Bay, and the sloughs
and pocket estuaries found along the central and south
coasts.• Improve accounting for coastal wetlands, including
tidal marsh, scrub-shrub, swamps, and seagrass, in the state's
Natural and Working Lands greenhouse gas inventory, drawing upon
established U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
methodologies for these habitats. And collaborate with state
agencies and research institutions to incorporate newly released
and existing localized data sets into the inventory.I applaud CARB
for eveloping the draft 2022 Climate Change Scoping Plan and
formally recognizing the role of natural and working lands in this
plan. I urge you not to miss the opportunity to protect and expand
the state's blue carbon sinks by including strong measures for ALL
of the state's coastal wetlands. Thank you for your time and
consideration of this important issue.Sincerely,
Susan
Lynch
Los Angeles, California 90272
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